Change
The RPS Central Contemporary / Documentary Group, 2024
Change
The RPS Central Contemporary / Documentary Group 2024
Introduction
The (UK) Central Region RPS Contemporary and Documentary (Combined) Special Interest Group was formed in 2020, during the pandemic lockdowns. We meet monthly via Zoom, and share projects we’ve completed or are working on. For this, our third group book, we have explored the theme of ‘Change’, inspired in part by how we have changed ourselves and our practice, and how the world has changed, since the group was first formed. We have allowed each contributing member to interpret the theme in their own way, or ways.
Featured in this book are group members:
2 Margaret Beardsmore LRPS
8 Clive Haynes FRPS
14 Steff Hutchinson ARPS
20 Paul King LRPS
26 Cliff McFarlane LRPS
32 Carol Olerud FRPS
38 Andy Thorpe ARPS
© 2024. The copyright of the photographs and text in this book belong to the author of the section of which they form part. All rights reserved. No part of this book can be reproduced in any form or by written, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information retrieval system without permission in writing by the relevant author.
If you are interested in joining our group, please email contemporarycentral@rps.org
Front cover: Carol Olerud FRPS
Back cover: Steff Hutchinson ARPS Printed by Book Printing UK www.bookprintinguk.com
Remus House, Coltsfoot Drive, Peterborough, PE2 9BF
Margaret Beardsmore LRPS
Rugeley and Brereton - Changes 2020-2024
2020. Covid and isolation. The world stopped.
In Rugeley and Brereton, volunteers came forward. An impromptu food bank provided parcels of food alongside plants, jigsaws, and children’s activities which were delivered to people’s doors. A phone befriending group started (and still continues). Hundreds of scrubs were made from donated duvet covers.
June 2023. The war in Ukraine saw another community appeal. Local firms funded the cost of sending four lorries full of aid to Ukraine; local residents, charities and businesses donated and sorted the supplies and the drivers gave their time for free.
2024. Community activities have multiplied. There are now in excess of 100 community groups supported by charities, churches, libraries and other organisations.
My images show a tiny insight into the community action and groups which have developed during the past four years.
1. Lockdown
2. Covid volunteers’ response
3. Ukraine war aid
4. Community Garden
5. Library Coffee and Quiz Group
Clive Haynes FRPS
Introduction
My contribution to the theme of ‘change’ embraces four of my recent photo-essays upon the subject of climate change with reference to the part played by the proliferation of fossil-fuelled vehicles since 1900. If nothing is done, their continued use will contribute to the forthcoming catastrophe for humankind. Human activity has accelerated climate change - and only humans can do something about it.
‘Old Fossils’
Already, economic and environmental pressures are taking their toll upon the extensive serviceindustry associated with fossil fuels, as hundreds of filling stations across the UK have closed. Rusting and forlorn, they stand as silent epitaphs to a soon-to-be bygone age. Forecourts become infested by weeds whilst fuel-pumps fall apart and are removed.
‘Fossil Hunting After Dark’
As the move away from petrol and diesel fuelled vehicles accelerates, my pictures imagine the particulate nature of air pollution and petrochemical fog caused by exhaust emissions. Like a huntsman I stalk the lairs where, particularly upon dark, rainy nights, vehicle owners can appear quite furtive as they fill the bellies of a species in terminal decline – the internal combustion engine.
‘Consequence’
Unless we each begin to understand how devastating the impact will be, there’s an inclination to think of it as an abstract concept and something which may happen in the future. The process of sea level rise is both slow and predicted.
I bring that future forward to make the impact of sea-level rise directly relevant to the city where I live. Sadly, the ancient city of Worcester will all but disappear and the British Isles will diminish to become nothing more than the British Archipelago.
Electric
Vehicles: EVs for EVeryone – for EVery Reason – for EVery Purpose
They’re less polluting, more environmentally friendly, quieter, very fast, less expensive to run than petrol/diesel vehicles, and with vastly fewer moving parts, consequently reduced service and maintenance. Present models offer ranges of 300+ miles. Currently there are well over 70,000 charging points in the UK plus the many thousands of owners who enjoy convenient, low-cost, charging at home.
Steff Hutchinson ARPS
The Covid lockdowns changed the way we access information and each other. I’ve attended so many photographic talks and discussions online since March 2020, and have experimented with a whole range of camera and editing techniques as a result, adding to those I already used. My main approach to photography has always been to play.
Last summer, selling photographs at a local art event, I noticed that people moved towards the ones with a local flavour. I had no desire to compete with the fine art photographers who were getting up at 4am to photograph the mist in the park (beautifully). So I decided instead to play, to change my local town, Leamington Spa, using a range of experimental techniques on its landmarks and architecture.
In this selection, I have included:
• Tall buildings - intentional camera movement (ICM)
• The Parade - panoramic shots tracking movement
• Leamington’s ‘Dark Hedges’ - Photoshopping two mirrored layers together
• After the end - generative expand and more using AI in Photoshop
• Sharpening the past - refining ICM with Topaz PhotoAI to create something that never existed.
Paul King LRPS
The Underground is somehow perpetual, but at the same time changing. Advertising is a ubiquitous part of the Tube, changing for the latest products and attractions. It’s everywhere, but somehow unseen. I’ve looked to show trains and passengers caught up in this environment, using a more abstract approach to draw the viewer into this world.
Cliff McFarlane LRPS
What represents change in our lives?
To me it’s historical: buildings and land usage, buds changing to flowers, ice changing to the water of life. A flower giving of itself and then waining, or an owl: a life for a life.
What I do know is life is constantly changing.
Carol Olerud FRPS
With this theme, the idea which immediately came to my mind, was to use the photos I’d taken of the pregnancy shoot I did with my daughter Louise.
Pregnancy brings with it a lot of huge changes in a woman’s body. You are carrying a new life inside you. Nine months is a long time to get used to the fact that a baby is growing inside of you.
The wonder that goes with it. Time goes slow and it is very exciting.
I experienced three pregnancies myself and I loved it. Birthing is an amazing thing and then you have your baby!
Pregnancy then, seems to have gone by very quickly!
These five photos are about the joy and wonder of pregnancy, the change happening in a woman’s body. Then comes the biggest change once baby arrives, the responsibility of being parents, but that’s material for another book!
Louise and Robert got pregnant in 2023 and baby Vera is now exactly one year old. She’s a delight!
October 2024
www.carololerud.com
Andy Thorpe ARPS
I have interpreted the “Change” theme by exploring the fairly well-known French phrase “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose” in five ways. Translated into English, the phrase means “the more things change, the more they stay the same”. It can also mean that although outward appearances may change, fundamentals are constant.
The phrase is widely associated with offering a pessimistic look at current events, expressing dissatisfaction and reluctant acceptance of the status quo. It can be used in reference to anything at any scale, from personal to international.
Photographically, I’ve explored the phrase in relation to a number of basic aspects of life which humans have always needed and struggled for. The need for these aspects, listed below, will remain despite the ongoing changes or technological advancements in society:
• Security
• Shelter
• Safety
• Peace
• Love
Love is illustrated by an image that was not originated using a camera. Although I have seen such a scene, I could not find one when putting together this project, so I decided to introduce an aspect of “change” that photography is currently dealing with, this being the use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology to produce images. The words “Billboard advert for a dating website” were entered into an online AI image generator to start the process. The result shown here is not perfect, but future software might create something more convincing.
Security
The nature of how people provide security for themselves and their dependents through work has changed constantly, especially since the start of the industrial revolution.
Shelter
Dwellings take many different forms and can be renovated and/or changed in many ways, but the need for shelter remains.
Safety
People have always needed to be safe in their environment, but the dangers they face have changed through time.
Peace
News headlines constantly change about how the search and need for peace is undermined, but there has never been a truly peaceable time.
Love
The avenues people can explore to find love have been added to significantly since the start of the digital communications revolution, reflecting the continuing need to find love.
